Early life and education

Singh was born to Gurmukh Singh and Amrit Kaur on 26 September 1932, in Gah, Punjab, British India, into a Sikh family.[2] He lost his mother when he was very young and was raised by his paternal grandmother, to whom he was very close.

In a 2005 interview with the British journalist Mark Tully, Singh said about his Cambridge days:

"At (Cambridge) university I first became conscious of the creative role of politics in shaping human affairs, and I owe that mostly to my teachers Joan Robinson and Nicholas Kaldor. Joan Robinson was a brilliant teacher, but she also sought to awaken the inner conscience of her students in a manner that very few others were able to achieve. She questioned me a great deal and made me think the unthinkable. She propounded the left wing interpretation of Keynes, maintaining that the state has to play more of a role if you really want to combine development with social equity. Kaldor influenced me even more; I found him pragmatic, scintillating, stimulating. Joan Robinson was a great admirer of what was going on in China, but Kaldor used the Keynesian analysis to demonstrate that capitalism could be made to work."

After Cambridge, Singh returned to India to his teaching position at Punjab University.[7]

In 1960, he went to the University of Oxford for the D.Phil where he was a member of Nuffield College. His 1962 doctoral thesis under supervision of IMD Little was titled "India's export performance, 1951–1960, export prospects and policy implications", and was later the basis for his book "India's Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth".[8]

In 1972, Singh was Chief Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance and in 1976 he was Secretary in the Finance Ministry.[6] In 1980–1982 he was at the Planning Commission, and in 1982, he was appointed Governor of the Reserve Bank of India under then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and held the post until 1985.[6] He went on to become the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of India from 1985 to 1987.[2] Following his tenure at the Planning Commission, he was Secretary General of the South Commission, an independent economic policy think tank headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland from 1987 to November 1990.[9]

Singh returned to India from Geneva in November 1990 and held the post as the Advisor to Prime Minister of India on Economic Affairs during the tenure of V. P. Singh.[6] In March 1991, he became Chairman of the University Grants Commission.[6]

Political career

In June 1991, India's Prime Minister at the time, P.V. Narasimha Rao, chose Singh to be his Finance Minister. Singh told Mark Tully the British journalist in 2005 ""On the day (Rao) was formulating his cabinet, he sent his Principal Secretary to me saying, 'The PM would like you to become the Minister of Finance'. I didn't take it seriously. He eventually tracked me down the next morning, rather angry, and demanded that I get dressed up and come to Rashtrapati Bhavan for the swearing in. So that's how I started in politics".[7]

Minister of Finance

In 1991, India's fiscal deficit was close to 8.5 per cent of the gross domestic product, the balance of payments deficit was huge and the current account deficit was close to 3.5 percent of India's GDP.[10] India's foreign reserves barely amounted to US$1 billion, enough to pay for a few weeks of imports, in comparison to US$283 billion today.[11]

Evidently, India was facing an economic crisis. At this point, the government of India sought relief from the supranational International Monetary Fund, which, while assisting India financially, imposed several conditions regarding India's economic policy. In effect, IMF-dictated policy meant that the ubiquitous Licence Raj had to be dismantled, and India's attempt at a state-controlled economy had to end. Accordingly, Singh, who had thus far been one of the most influential architects of India's socialist economy, slowly opened the Indian economy to foreign investment and business competition.[10][12]

Rao and Singh thus implemented policies to open up the economy and change India's socialist economy to a more capitalistic one, in the process dismantling the Licence Raj, a system that inhibited the prosperity of private businesses. They removed many obstacles standing in the way of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and initiated the process of the privatisation of public sector companies. However, in spite of these reforms, Rao's government was voted out in 1996 due to non-performance of government in other areas. In praise of Singh's work that pushed India towards a market economy, long-time Cabinet minister P. Chidambaram has referred to Singh as the Deng Xiaoping of India.[13]

In 1993, Singh offered his resignation from the post of Finance Minister after a parliamentary investigation report criticised his ministry for not being able to anticipate a US$1.8 billion securities scandal. Prime Minister Rao refused Singh's resignation, instead promising to punish the individuals directly accused in the report.[14]

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha

Singh was first elected to the upper house of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, in 1991[15]by the legislature of the state of Assam, and was re-elected in 1995, 2001, 2007[2] and 2013.[16] From 1998 to 2004, while the Bharatiya Janata Party was in power, Singh was the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. In 1999, he contested for the Lok Sabha from South Delhi but was unable to win the seat.[17]

Prime Minister of India

14th Lok Sabha

After the 2004 general elections, the Indian National Congress ended the incumbent National Democratic Alliance (NDA) tenure by becoming the political party with the single largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha. It formed United Progressive Alliance (UPA) with allies and staked claim to form government. In a surprise move, Chairperson Sonia Gandhi declared Manmohan Singh, a technocrat, as the UPA candidate for the Prime Ministership. Despite the fact that Singh had never won a Lok Sabha seat, according to the BBC, he "has enjoyed massive popular support, not least because he was seen by many as a clean politician untouched by the taint of corruption that has run through many Indian administrations."[19] He took the oath as the Prime Minister of India on 22 May 2004.[20][21]

Economic policy

Following the advice of International Monetary Fund in 1991, Singh as Finance Minister, freed India from the Licence Raj, source of slow economic growth and corruption in the Indian economy for decades. He liberalised the Indian economy, allowing it to speed up development dramatically. During his term as Prime Minister, Singh continued to encourage growth in the Indian market, enjoying widespread success in these matters. Singh, along with the former Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, have presided over a period where the Indian economy has grown with an 8–9% economic growth rate. In 2007, India achieved its highest GDP growth rate of 9% and became the second fastest growing major economy in the world.[22][23]

Singh's government has continued the Golden Quadrilateral and the highway modernisation program that was initiated by Vajpayee's government.[24] Singh has also been working on reforming the banking and financial sectors, as well as public sector companies.[25] The Finance ministry has been working towards relieving farmers of their debt and has been working towards pro-industry policies.[26] In 2005, Singh's government introduced the value added tax, replacing sales tax. In 2007 and early 2008, the global problem of inflation impacted India.[27]

Healthcare and education

In 2005, Prime Minister Singh and his government's health ministry started the National Rural Health Mission, which has mobilised half a million community health workers. This rural health initiative was praised by the American economist Jeffrey Sachs.[28] In 2006, his Government implemented the proposal to reserve 27% of seats in All India Institute of Medical Studies (AIIMS), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and other central institutions of higher education for Other Backward Classes which led to 2006 Indian anti-reservation protests.

Singh's administration initiated a massive reconstruction effort in Kashmir to stabilise the region but after some period of success, insurgent infiltration and terrorism in Kashmir has increased since 2009.[31] However, the Singh administration has been successful in reducing terrorism in Northeast India.[31]

Foreign policy

Manmohan Singh with American President Barack Obama at the White House. Singh is known to be a pro-US leader and has contributed substantially in cementing the ties between the two countries.

Manmohan Singh has continued the pragmatic foreign policy that was started by P.V. Narasimha Rao and continued by Bharatiya Janata Party's Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Singh has continued the peace process with Pakistan initiated by his predecessor, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Exchange of high-level visits by top leaders from both countries have highlighted his tenure. Efforts have been made during Singh's tenure to end the border dispute with People's Republic of China. In November 2006, Chinese President Hu Jintao visited India which was followed by Singh's visit to Beijing in January 2008. A major development in Sino-Indian relations was the reopening of the Nathula Pass in 2006 after being closed for more than four decades. As of 2010, the People's Republic of China is the second biggest trade partner of India.[41]

Relations with Afghanistan have also improved considerably, with India now becoming the largest regional donor to Afghanistan.[42] During Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to New Delhi in August 2008, Manmohan Singh increased the aid package to Afghanistan for the development of more schools, health clinics, infrastructure, and defence.[43] Under the leadership of Singh, India has emerged as one of the single largest aid donors to Afghanistan.[43]

Singh had the first official state visit to the White House during the administration of US President Barack Obama. The visit took place in November 2009, and several discussions took place, including on trade and nuclear power.

Relations have improved with Japan and European Union countries, like the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. Relations with Iran have continued and negotiations over the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline have taken place. New Delhi hosted an India–Africa Summit in April 2006 which was attended by the leaders of 15 African states.[45] Relations have improved with other developing countries, particularly Brazil and South Africa. Singh carried forward the momentum which was established after the "Brasilia Declaration" in 2003 and the IBSA Dialogue Forum was formed.[46]

Singh's government has also been especially keen on expanding ties with Israel. Since 2003, the two countries have made significant investments in each other[47] and Israel now rivals Russia to become India's defence partner.[48] Though there have been a few diplomatic glitches between India and Russia, especially over the delay and price hike of several Russian weapons to be delivered to India,[49] relations between the two remain strong with India and Russia signing various agreements to increase defence, nuclear energy and space co-operation.[50]

The 2012 report filed by the CAG in Parliament of India states that due to allocation of coal blocks to certain private companies without bidding process the nation suffered estimated loss of Rs 1.85 lakh crore between 2005 to 2009 in which Manmohan Singh was the coal minister of India.[56][57]

Manmohan Singh declined to appear before a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) in April 2013 when called upon by one of the members of JPC Yashwant Sinha for his alleged involvement of in 2G scam.[58]

16th Lok Sabha

Singh did not contest the 2014 general election for the 16th Lok Sabha and resigned his post as prime minister at the end of his term on 17 May 2014. He served as the acting prime minister till 25 May 2014, when Narendra Modi was sworn in as the new prime minister.[59][60][61]

Public image

Singh was perceived as a man of clean background. He is seen as a man of few words. The Independent described him as "one of the world's most revered leaders" and "a man of uncommon decency and grace," noting that he drives a Maruti 800, one of the humblest cars in the Indian market. Khushwant Singh lauded Singh as the best prime minister India has had, even rating him higher than Jawaharlal Nehru. He mentions an incident in his book Absolute Khushwant: The Low-Down on Life, Death and Most things In-between where after losing the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, Singh immediately returned the 2 lakh (US$3,100) he had borrowed from the writer for hiring taxis. Terming him as the best example of integrity, Khushwant Singh stated, "When people talk of integrity, I say the best example is the man who occupies the country's highest office."[62]

In 2010, Newsweek magazine recognised him as a world leader who is respected by other heads of state, describing him as "the leader other leaders love." The article quoted Mohamed ElBaradei, who remarked that Singh is "the model of what a political leader should be."[63] Singh is number 18 on the 2010 Forbes list of the world's most powerful people.[64]Forbes magazine described Singh as being "universally praised as India's best prime minister since Nehru".[65] Australian journalist Greg Sheridan praised Singh "as one of the greatest statesmen in Asian history."[66]

Time magazine's Asia edition for 10–17 July 2012 week, on its cover remarked that Singh was an "underachiever".[67] It stated that Singh appears "unwilling to stick his neck out" on reforms that will put the country back on growth path. Congress spokesperson, Manish Tiwari rebutted the charges. UPA ally Lalu Prasad Yadav took issue with the magazine's statements. Praising the government, Prasad said UPA projects [were] doing well and asked, "What will America say as their own economy is shattered?".[68]

Political opponents including L.K Advani have claimed that Singh is a "weak" Prime Minister. Advani declared "He is weak. What do I call a person who can't take his decisions until 10 Janpath gives instruction."[69][70][71] The Independent, a British daily also claimed that Singh did not have genuine political power.[72]

Singh's public image has been tarnished with his government having been accused of various corruption scandals since the start of its second term in 2009.[73] Opposition demanded his resignation for his alleged role in 2G spectrum scam[74] and Indian coal allocation scam.[75] Senior MP of the Communist Party of India Gurudas Dasgupta accused Manmohan Singh of "Dereliction of duty", alleging that he (the PM) was fully aware of irregularities in dispensing of 2G telecom licences.[76]

He has been largely viewed as accepting the role as "seat warmer" for Rahul Gandhi; this was felt to have undercut the institution of the prime minister.[77]